Clutton Parish Council is urging developers who want to build in the village to work with it to find suitable sites that will benefit the local community following news that Curo Housing is pulling out of a scheme to build new homes.

Curo Housing is blaming the parish council for opposition to its plans to build 36 homes for delays which Curo Housing says means it can no longer afford to build the estate.

In a statement the parish council said:

“There were 185 letters from local people objecting to it, for many valid reasons and no letters in support. Additionally 73 people came to the Parish Council meeting at which this was discussed and only one person spoke in support.

It should have been clear to Curo Housing, as developers, from the start that the site would prove to be expensive to build on. Anyone,even someone without experience in development, can see by looking at the site, and at Ordinance Survey Maps, that the land slopes steeply with deep undulations.

Maps of the geology, available from Ordinance Survey and online from the Coal Authority, show that three coal seams outcrop in the development area, and that additionally there is one mine shaft and several bell pits on the site. As developers they must surely have known this, and factored it in before they purchased the land.”

Gerraint Oakley, Managing Director of Curo Homes said:

“The development is no longer profitable for us. We have therefore taken the decision to sell the land.”